Dragline bucket with skid link

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a dragline bucket for collecting and emptying various materials such as earth, gravel, etc., the bottom of which is provided at its mouth end with excavator teeth and which further has at its mouth end adjacent to each side walls a coupling member. Each of the coupling members is movable at substantially right angles to and substantially longitudinally of the bottom of the bucket. Moreover, each of the coupling members is connected at one end to a cable or chain for dragging the bucket along the ground. Each of the coupling members has at one end detachably coupled thereto a second coupling member, the other end of each of the second pair of coupling members being detachably connectible to a side wall of the bucket. The second coupling members are movable in a plane transverse to the mouth end of the bucket. Each coupling member of the first-mentioned pair of such members mounts at its bottom a skid or runner extending in the longitudinal direction of this coupling member.

United States Patent 1191 Voyce June 26, 1973 DRAGLINE BUCKET WITH SKID LINK Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey [75] Inventor. Terence Edward Voyce, Billencay, Assistant Examiner Eugene H Eickhoh England Attorney-Bane, Baxley & Splecens [73] Assignee: Bofors (Great Britain) Company Limited, Billericay, Essex, England [57] ABSTRACT [22] Ffled: May 1971 There is disclosed a dragline bucket for collecting and 21 App] N 141,739 emptying various materials such as earth, gravel, etc., the bottom of which is provided at its mouth end with excavator teeth and which further has at its mouth end [30] Forelgn Application Pnonty Data adjacent to each side walls a coupling member. Each of May 15, 1970 Sweden 23798/70 the coupling members is movable at substantially right angles to and substantially longitudinally of the bottom [52] U.S. of the bucket Moreover, each of the coupling men [51] Int. Cl E02f 3/46 hers is cqnnected at one end to a cable or chain for Of Search l7, the bucket along the ground Each of the cou- 135: 214/523: 254/147; 172/265. 2 pling members has at one end detachably coupled thereto a second coupling member, the other end of [56] References C te each of the second pair of coupling members being de- UNITED STATES PATENTS tachably connectible toa side wall of the bucket. The 2 267 614 12/1941 Martinson 37/116 sewn! membes ale a Phi"e 88l:330 3/1908 Newman 37/116 x verse to the mouth end of the bucket. Each coupling 2,716,324 9 1955 Francis 37/135 x member of the first-mentioned pair of such members 1,082,438 12/1913 Parker 37/115 X mounts at its bottom a skid or runner extending in the 2, 32,851 3 ge 5 X longitudinal direction of this coupling member. 2,869,255 1/1959 Page 37/135 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDJum ms 3.740.875

SHEHZNZ FIG. 4

DRAGLINE BUCKET WITH SKID LINK The present invention relates to a dragline bucket. As a rule, such buckets are used together with a vehicle provided with a crane, and with the aid of the crane the bucket is placed at a distance from the vehicle and then with the filling end of the bucket facing the vehicle. At the lower part of the filling end, i.e., at the end of the bottom, the bucket has teeth, in order to act upon the earth or other accumulation of material in the form of sand, clay, stone, coke etc. At its filling end the bucket has a cable arrangement which is connected to the vehicle, and further a second cable arrangement which is connected with the upper end of the crane. If the cable arrangement to the filling end of the bucket is shortened, the bucket moves towards the vehicle, at the same time as the bucket is filled with material. It has now proved that the fastening arrangements for the cable arrangement at the filling end of the bucket are often subjected to unnecessarily great wear, and it has further proved that it is desirable to be able to raise the bucket where the cable arrangement is connected to the filling end of the bucket.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the last-mentioned problem, and this is achieved in that the coupling member between the cable arrangement and the filling end of the bucket is provided with runners or skids under said coupling member. The coupling member at the filling end of the bucket is thereby protected and, furthermore, the bucket is raised at the filling end to a certain degree, since said skids or runners can slide on the ground.

According to a favorable embodiment of the present invention, said skids or runners can be bent up at the end facing the vehicle, as in the case of ordinary skids or runners, thereby facilitating their sliding on the ground. Further, said skids or runners can have such a length that they cover and protect more or less all of the coupling parts that can be subjected to destruction from the ground.

Said skids or runners can moreover have a width that exceeds the width of all the parts which the skids or runners are to protect.

Further details and properties of the present invention will be noted from the claims and description in the following. i

The present invention will be described in more detail in conjunction with the attached two drawings,

in which FIG. 1 shows a vehicle with crane provided with a dragline bucket,

in which FIG. 2 shows a coupling arrangement between said dragline bucket and a cable arrangement from the vehicle,

in which FIG. 3 shows a part of the dragline bucket in operation, and

in which FIG. 4 shows how a coupling member in the coupling arrangement functions when the ground surface is uneven.

In FIG. I, l is a ground surface. On same a mobile vehicle 2 is placed, which in the present case is provided with crawler tracks. It should be obvious, however, that ordinary wheels can also be used. The vehicle is also provided with a crane jib 3 which can be raised and lowered. Two cables 4 and 5 run from the vehicle, and are directly connected to a dragline bucket 6. The two cables can be reeled out and in inside the actual vehicle 2. The cable 4 runs via the tip of the jib 3 to the dragline bucket, and the cable 5 runs from the vehicle at the lower end of the jib. At its filling end the bucket is provided with two fastening lugs 7 and 8. At each fastening lug two coupling members are arranged, one after the other, which are joined together and are articulated. Thus, at the fastening lug 8 a coupling member 10 is movably attached to the lug, and is followed by said second coupling member, which has been given the reference designation 9. The coupling member 9, in turn, is connected with a chain 12, and the corresponding coupling member at the fastening lug 7 is connected with a chain 11. At their other ends, the two chains 11 and 12 are connected with a chain 12A which, in turn, is connected with the cable 5, as is clearly shown in the figure. To the dragline bucket, and then at its side walls, two chains 13 and 14 have one end fastened. The other ends of the chains are connected with a connecting member 15 which, in turn, is fastened to the cable 4. At its filling end the dragline bucket has a shackle 16, to which one end of a cable 17 is fastened. The cable runs over a pulley arrangement, which is arranged inside the connecting member 15. The other end of the cable 17 is connected at the junction point between the cable end 5 and the chain 12A.

In the following, the embodiment of the fastening lug 8 and the two coupling members 9 and 10 connected to it will be described in more detail. The fastening lug 8 is formed in its free end, i.e., the end facing the vehicle, as a fork-like part 18, in which the legs of the fork have such a thickness that a transversal hole can be made through the legs and a bolt coupling can be placed in said hole. Between the legs of said fork-like part, one part 20 of the coupling member 10 is placed. The part 20 has a fork-like appearance, similar to that of the fork-like part 18, and is also made with a transversal hole through the legs. The bolt coupling thus goes through both of the fork-like parts 18 and 20, which involves that the coupling'member 10 can be turned round the axle of the bolt coupling 19. The other end of the coupling member 10, Le. the one to the left in the figure, is made in the form of a fork with two legs with holes 21, the legs then being turned 90 in relation to the legs of the fork-like part 20. Between the last-mentioned legs, a shaft-like part 23 runs to the coupling member 9, which is provided with a transversal hole. A bolt coupling 22 goes through the lastmentioned hole and through the fork legs 21. Two fork legs 24 extend from the left-hand end of the shaft-like part 23. Said legs are provided with a hole for a bolt coupling 25. In the same way as in the case of the fastening lug 8, the fastening lug 7 is provided with two coupling members corresponding to the coupling members 9 and 10. In the following, the coupling members that correspond to the coupling member 9 will be called the first pair of coupling members, and the coupling members that correspond to the coupling members 10 will be called the second pair of coupling members. The bottom of the coupling member 9 is provided with a skid, runner or the like 26, which extends along the entire length of the coupling member 9, and the left-hand end of the skid or runner 26 can moreover be bent upwards. The skid or runner 26 has a width preferably exceeding the width of the coupling member 9. Further, the skid or runner can be extended towards the right, so that it also protects the whole of the coupling member 10 from below. From the foregoing, it will thus be noted that the coupling member 10 more or less moves in a horizontal plane, while the coupling member 9 moves in a vertical plane.

In FIG. 3 it is shown how the dragline bucket at its filling end, and then at the front edge of the bottom is provided with excavator teeth 27. It will also be noted from said figure that the dragline bucket has an edge 28, on the bottom of which there is a runner 29, which is turned up at the left.

In the following, the influence of the first pair of coupling members on the functioning of the dragline bucket will be described. If a dragline bucket is set out in the way shown in FIG. 1 and if thereafter the cable 5 is caused to be drawn in, the dragline bucket will move towards the vehicle 2 and will act upon the ground in the way shown in FIG. 3. From this figure it will be clearly noted that each coupling member in the first pair of coupling members, owing to its skid or runner raises the front end of the bucket, and it will also be clearly noted that in the present case the skid protects the coupling member 9 from the ground. The skid could have been made slightly longer, and would then also have protected the coupling member 10 in the second pair of coupling members. The runner 29 at the bucket 6 also helps to raise the filling end of the bucket.

FIG. 4 shows the advantage of having a runner, particularly when the ground is uneven. In FIG. 4 such a point of unevenness has been given the reference designation 30. The way in which the dragline bucket is emptied will not be described, as this, in itself, is previously known.

From the foregoing, it should be obvious that by providing the coupling members in the first pair of coupling members with runners 26, the advantage is gained that the coupling member is protected from underlying objects, and also that through the runner the dragline bucket is raised to a certain extent, which prolongs the life of the two coupling members and moreover improves the functioning of the dragline bucket.

I claim:

1. A dragline bucket for collecting and emptying materials such as earth, sand, gravel, stone, and the like from a soft or firm base, such as a ground surface or a sand pit, in which the end of the bottom of the bucket at the mouth end thereof is provided with excavating members and in which the bucket at its mouth end adjacent to two opposite side walls thereof is provided with a coupling member associated with each of the side walls, each of said coupling members being movable in planes substantially at right angles to and substantially longitudinally of the bottom of the bucket, each of said coupling members having one end connectable with a pulling device, arranged to effect a dragging movement of the bucket, said coupling members each having its other end detachably connectable to one end of an associated coupling member of a second pair of coupling members, the other end of each coupling member of the second pair of coupling members being detachably connectable with a side wall of the bucket and the coupling members of the second pair being movable in planes transverse to the mouth end of the bucket, each of the coupling members of the first pair of coupling members being provided on the bottom thereof with a runner extending in the longitudinal direction of the said coupling member.

2. The bucket according to claim 1 wherein each runner at the end thereof removed from the mouth end of the bucket is bent upwards.

3. The bucket according to claim 1 wherein each runner has a length such that the underside of the respective coupling member of the second pair of coupling members is at least partly covered by the runner.

4. The bucket according to claim 1 wherein each runner has a width at least equal to the width of at least one of the two associated coupling members. 

1. A dragline bucket for collecting and emptying materials such as earth, sand, gravel, stone, and the like from a soft or firm base, such as a ground surface or a sand pit, in which the end of the bottom of the bucket at the mouth end thereof is provided with excavating members and in which the bucket at its mouth end adjacent to two opposite side walls thereof is provided with a coupling member associated with each of the side walls, each of said coupling members being movable in planes substantially at right angles to and substantially longitudinally of the bottom of the bucket, each of said coupling members having one end connectable with a pulling device, arranged to effect a dragging movement of the bucket, said coupling members each having its other end detachably connectable to one end of an associated coupling member of a second pair of coupling members, the other end of each coupling member of the second pair of coupling members being detachably connectable with a side wall of the bucket and the coupling members of the second pair being movable in planes transverse to the mouth end of the bucket, each of the coupling members of the first pair of coupling members being provided on the bottom thereof with a runner extending in the longitudinal direction of the said coupling member.
 2. The bucket according to claim 1 wherein each runner at the end thereof removed from the mouth end of the bucket is bent upwards.
 3. The Bucket according to claim 1 wherein each runner has a length such that the underside of the respective coupling member of the second pair of coupling members is at least partly covered by the runner.
 4. The bucket according to claim 1 wherein each runner has a width at least equal to the width of at least one of the two associated coupling members. 